People are sometimes subjected to conditions that require them to undergo emergency medical treatment. Such treatment may typically involve the administration of blood and/or drugs, or may require other procedures that could cause further harm to the person if certain precautions are not taken. For instance, it is essential to know the blood type of persons receiving blood transfusions, and to know if that person is allergic or otherwise experiences adverse reactions to certain drugs. Further, medical devices or prostheses, such as a heart pacemaker, or contact lenses or the like may be worn by the person being treated. In addition, there may be aspects of that person's medical history which are essential to proper treatment, whereby consultation with that person's personal physician would be desirable in order to obtain the medical history or other data useful in the treatment of the person.
In many instances, the person who must receive emergency medical treatment is either unconscious or otherwise unable to be of assistance to rescue and/or medical personnel at the time treatment is needed. Thus, the information noted above, and essential to the treatment of the person, may not be readily and quickly obtainable from the person or from normal channels of such information.
To solve this problem, various devices are typically employed in the prior art, including cards that are adapted to be carried in a person's wallet or pocketbook, or I.D. tags and the like that may be worn about the neck of the person. Miniaturized viewers have also been devised, carrying medical and other personal information on a small piece of microfilm that may be read through a lens provided on the device.
Thus, in a medical emergency the treating physician has immediate access to critical medical information that could save the life of a person wearing such a device.
A variety of miniaturized viewing devices for containing medical information are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,178,842, 4,249,330, 4,435,912, 4,468,874 and 4,574,505.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,178,842, 4,468,874 and 4,574,505 all describe collapsible viewers having one part that carries a piece of microfilm and another part that carries a lens for viewing the microfilm. These devices are relatively complex in construction and assembly, adding to their cost. Moreover, when they are in their collapsed, inoperative condition they tend to be unsightly, and may discourage some persons from wearing them in a readily visible position, such as on a necklace or bracelet. If the device is worn or carried in a location that is normally out of sight, such as in a pocket or the like, its utility is significantly diminished, since medical personnel may be reluctant or even prohibited from searching a person in an effort to locate such a device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,435,912 describes a card that is adapted to be carried in a wallet or pocketbook or the like, and which includes a piece of microfilm on one part and a lens on another part that may be bent into operative relationship with one another so that the film can be viewed. This device is susceptible to damage from the environment, and is normally carried in a pocket or other location that may prevent its being discovered by personnel attending to the treatment of the person.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,330 discloses a device that has a fixed, closed housing with a lens in one end and a piece of microfilm in the other end. Although the lens and film are protected from many potentially damaging elements in the environment, the construction of the device still renders the lens and film susceptible to the collection of dirt or other foreign matter which might make the film difficult or impossible to read. Moreover, the fixed relationship of the film-carrying part to the lens-carrying part dictates a particular size to the device, and even though the device is described as capable of being worn as a piece of jewelry, it would appear to be relatively large and may discourage some from wearing it as jewelry.
There is thus need for a device that carries medical and/or other personal information, and which is small and attractive so as to encourage its use in a readily visible location, and further, which has means to normally protect the operative components thereof from dirt or other foreign matter. A further desired feature would be to give such a device an additional function to encourage its use at all times.